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Monday, January 30, 2012

If you missed the first installment of Tool Hammers World of Tanks Tips you can read it HERE. In this installment Tool will go over some helpful tricks to make you an overall better player.

Welcome to my
second installment of Toolhammer9000’s tips, tricks and techniques. This
installment I would like to discuss some general tactics that can be applied to
all tanks.

Beneficial habits to
develop

When facing
higher tier, better armed or more heavily armored opponents there are a few
things you can do to increase your survivability, profitability and overall
enjoyment of the game. To increase enemies bouncing rounds off of your tank and
minimize the damage you sustain you should develop these habits.

ANGLE YOUR
ARMOR – the single most important thing you can do is angle your armor, in open field combat this means
instead of squaring your armor face to face with an opponent turn your tank so
that your frontal and side armor are at an approximately 45 degree angle to the
enemy. This will increase the effectiveness of the armor plating and give you
the best chance to bounce the enemy round.

In addition
to the open field method there are ways to angle your armor using the hard cover technique. Hard cover
is anything that cannot be destroyed or shot through. To employ this tactic
using a building or mountain you must first position your tank nose first into
the cover with just the slightest bit of side is exposed to your enemy. This
allows your turret to be pointed slightly to the side giving you a shot but not
exposing your frontal armor at all. The resulting side that you are exposing to
the enemy will be facing the enemy at such a steep angle it will be nearly
impossible to penetrate. The only disadvantage to this technique is that you will take rounds to your tracks
and turret but only after your aggravated opponent has figured out what you are
doing and takes corrective measures. By this time you should already have
multiple hits on the enemy. See provided
illustration for clarification.

Tank vulnerabilities

Hit zone
skins – These are overlays designed by non developer third parties that show
the vulnerable sections of each tank. The colors represented are red for engine
and transmission, white for ammunition rack, orange for commander, dark blue
for driver and teal / pink for lighter armored portions. These add-on have been deemed allowable by the developers and can be downloaded from the
internet. I have personal experience
with this add on’s and noticed that my situational awareness increased
significantly when I used them, however they become obsolete with each patch.

Knowing where
to strike the enemy for maximum effect is a huge advantage, one thing I have
learned is that the commander’s hatches and lower hull plate armor on almost
every tank is extremely vulnerable. The commander’s hatch is generally located
on the very top of the turret and the lower hull plate armor is the section on
the front towards the bottom of the tank. The commander’s hatch is round in
shape and has prismatic (mirrors) squares all the way around. Two tanks that
have very weak hatches are the E-75 and the American T-95 tank destroyer, these
tanks are nearly impossible to penetrate from the front but when aiming for
these hatches you can have huge success even with a much lower tier tank.

In contrast
if you find yourself in a fierce firefight slugging it out with someone who can
and is dealing damage you should again angle your armor, continue to move back
and forth and traverse your turret slightly to the left and right. This will
make your opponent have a higher chance of bouncing rounds or missing intended
weak spots.

There is one
thing in World of Tanks that will ruin your day faster then any other……. ARTY,
mainly heavy arty. A skilled heavy artillery player can mash your tank to bits
and leave you sobbing with a huge repair bill. My current tier 7 artillery the
M40/M43 has the 203 mm cannon and can potentially deal out 1850 hit points
worth of damage (that’s game ending with just one shot) and it’s not even the
largest artillery available.

The best
defense against artillery is terrain and hard cover. Being aware of your
surroundings and the commonly used artillery paths will allow you to stay in
the fight longer, making more money and experience points.

The
illustration above shows how to tuck against a sand dune or hill to avoid
artillery fire, this area of the sand dune or hill is called the “arty shadow”
and is usually halfway to three quarters of the way up the hill depending on
the angle of the hill. The worst place to sit is at the bottom portion of the
hill due to the false sense of security it provides.

Goals to look forward
to

I would like
to briefly discuss some of the superstar vehicles I have had the pleasure of
operating and explain why I enjoyed them so much. Who knows you may choose to
grind to these tanks and enjoy them as much as I did.

Jagdpanther –
This was by far my favorite vehicle to operate. I maintain a 76 percent win
percentage including several 6 plus kill matches. My best match was with 8
kills (still unbeaten by any of my vehicles). When fully upgraded this vehicle
was incredibly accurate, carries a powerful 105 mm gun and is agile enough to
thwart light tank attacks providing a fun powerful tier 7 tank destroyer that
is generally matched with lower tier tanks.

E-75 – coming
in second place was the E75 which is a tier 9 heavy on the German tree. This
brute is a real joy to use with its very heavy and sloped front armor and
turret which bounces all but the heaviest rounds fired at it. When fully upgraded this beast is equipped
with a 128 mm main gun. With this setup this heavy can stand toe to toe with
anything in the game and usually fare pretty well.

T50-2 – This
light tank is a blast to drive, its top speed of 72 kmph and superior crossing
traverse make it uber agile and a real thorn in the side of the enemy team. The
fully upgraded gun for this tank is relatively powerful and it reloads quickly.
I have on several occasions been able to avoid the business end of a heavy tank
by staying on the backside of their turret traverse and wreaked havoc by
shooting the softer armor on the rear and sides but expect to solo engage
heavies over a tier 6 and live to tell about it. The longer you stay alive in
this tank the higher your teams chances of winning.

Lowe – Ah my
Lowe, I have just shy of 750 battles with this gem. This tank while more
lightly armored then its other non premium tier 8 counterparts is a real
sniper. The accuracy on the Lowe’s gun is second to none and the penetration
will provide damaged components and injured crews for even the most heavily
armored opponents. If used correctly this tank can be a very valuable asset to
any team.

There are
many other vehicles I have operated and enjoyed but these are my favorites
overall. Except for a few just absolutely awful tanks most vehicles in the game
have strengths and weaknesses making them enjoyable to play.

Be sure to take advantage of the Battle of the Bulge special while it
lasts! The prices of the above-mentioned tanks and features will return
to normal on January 26, 2012.

In Other Wot News Patch 7.2 is slated for release sometime in February 2012. here is a partial list of some of the changes expected in the release. There are some much wanted changes in this patch including the American Heavy tree changes and new crew skills.

Vehicles:

Alternate branch of American Tank Destroyers with turrets, starting at T82:

Friday, January 20, 2012

Today I am posting a piece from a good friend of mine who just so happens to also be a big fan of World of Tanks. During his time playing the game he has learned and developed several techniques and recently he sat down to create a series of posts in the hope of sharing some with the rest of WoT's gamers. In this first installment he will talk about the very basics a new player will need to understand the game, but I am sure even veteran players will find something new in here they may use. Stay tuned for future installments from Tool Hammer where he will explore all things tanks.

Tool hammer’s tips,
tricks and techniques

Welcome
to Toohammer9000’s tips tricks and techniques, in this series of articles I
will discuss different ways to improve your overall game play in World of
Tanks.

I would like to start by introducing myself and my history playing
WoT. Although I do not consider myself an expert in any way, I do believe that
I have spent enough time in game to have acquired a certain level of knowledge,
which you may find helpful.The information
in this article series is a result of my 6200 plus battles in the various
vehicles covering all tiers and types that World of Tanks has to offer. My win
percentage is a modest 52 percent with a 31 percent survival rating; this is
nothing exceptional however almost all of my battles have been in random
matches or “pub” matches as they are sometimes called.

There are many other players within the WoT world who have higher
percentages but their stats can sometimes be skewed by matches played in Clan
Wars or in platoons. While the vehicle does not make the man I have been
successful enough to obtain an IS-7, E-100, Patton, T50-2 and a Ferdinand.
Playing through these trees has given me valuable insight into the game that I
would like to pass along to the newer player or the player trying to grasp the
subtle nuances of the game.

The
first installment in my series will be geared toward the newer player just
looking to start out in World of Tanks.

Starting out in World of Tanks

When starting off in World of Tanks, you have four different tanks
to choose from. Tier one tanks are The Russian MS-1, German Liechtraktor, the
American T1 Cunningham and the French Renault ft17. All of these starter tanks
are enough to make you want to throw your keyboard in anger, but take a deep
breath and put the keyboard down, it gets better, trust me. As you progress and
get better components for your tank or higher tier tanks altogether, you will
start to enjoy the game more and more.

The game format is based upon a
randomly selected map and includes 2 separate teams of 15 players. The teams
consist of a mix of heavy tanks, light or scout tanks, medium tanks, tanks
destroyers and self propelled guns or artillery. Each team starts at or near
one of two home bases and the objective of the game is to either destroy all
enemy vehicles or capture the enemy base by occupying it with one or more tanks
until a status bar is full. Capping of the enemy base can be interrupted by
damaging the occupying tanks.

I would like to introduce the newer
players to some of the lesser known controls in the game. As in many other
computer games the w a s d keys control the movement of the tank hull and the
mouse controls the turret traverse, firing of the main gun, auto aim locking
system and zoom.

Zoom - there are two choices when zooming
in, pressing the shift key will put you into an automatic “sniper mode” which
is less the the full effect. For more control you can roll your mouse wheel for
zooming in intervals between full third person and completely magnified.

Auto Aim – while a target is lit and your
cursor is over the enemy vehicle you can click the right mouse button and
obtain an auto lock on said target. Beware while this option is sufficient at
lower levels or while you are using a scout tank at high speed, most of the
time you will want to manually aim at certain components of the enemy
maximizing the damage inflicted.

Additional
Reticule – after the
match has begun you can choose to use an additional blue sniper style reticule,
this can be achieved by pressing the alt and 0 keys simultaneously. This can be
useful when trying to be even more precise.

Artillery
aiming – to properly
aim a self propelled gun or “arty” as they are affectionately known you must
first get into a cozy bush and then press the shift key. This will enter you
into an overhead view of the battlefield where you can then use the circular
shape aiming reticule to air mail little packages of love down upon your enemy.

Shell
types – there are 3
shell types offered on most vehicles, Armor Piercing, ACPR and High Explosive.
These 3 shell types can be loaded while in battle using keys 1 2 and 3. If you
want to change ammunition type during battle you can press the corresponding
key once to load that ammo the next round or you can double tap the corresponding
key to completely reload that ammunition type.Armor piercing rounds or AP are general purpose rounds that are designed
to cause maximum damage if penetration can be achieved. When AP rounds will not
go through enemy armor using HE or high explosive rounds can some times be an
effective option. HE rounds are usually able to break components or injure crew
members even if they do not penetrate. ACPR rounds are available for purchase
for real money, they are generally used for Clan Wars or any other time you
need the utmost performance from your ammunition.

Consumables - as you progress in the game you
start to make use of all the little gadgets available to you in your garage
including consumables. These are the three slots on the lower portion of your
garage service screen. In these slots you can equip things like repair kit,
fire extinguisher, first aid kit and many other items that will come in handy
in the heat of battle. Once in combat you will find these items on the bottom
center part of your screen and they canbe accessed by using keys 4 5 6. My personal setup is repair kit #4 fire
extinguisher #5 and first aid kit #6, I have chosen these three simply because
I use them the most and find them the most beneficial.

It
quickly becomes apparent around the tier 3-5 range that the current pace of
leveling up 6 or 7 tanks at one time is not sustainable unless you plan on
being stuck in this tier for months. The best advice I can offer in regards to
leveling tanks is to do some research, talk to other players and look at what
is effective in battle. Pick a goal vehicle in each category, familiarize
yourself with the respective tech tree and determine the best route to gain
that tank. A manageable garage should have 2 to 3 tanks, an artillery piece and
a tank destroyer. This allows for a variety of play styles and also focuses
your leveling enough to actually move up in the tiers. Doing research prior to
selecting your path will prevent you from regretting your decision once you
start grinding a tree and determine there are better options.

There
will be a harsh realization that even though that next tier tank you have been
working so hard to get may appear to be the answer to your struggle, it will
not be. This is due to the crap tastic gear that comes with each brand new
tank. Your new tank will be slow, it will be outgunned, and it will have crummy
view range and a novice crew making it the most fun vehicle you will ever drive
– not!

Cry
not my fellow tankers, it gets better as you progress through the tank and
learn how to derive the best from the tank, upgrade equipment and crew. Some
tanks will still be terrible even with the best gear and crew, such is World of
Tanks.

Let’s
discuss some generalizations or “tree characteristics” that appear within the 3
major tech trees (French are excluded because at the time of this article they
are brand new and I have no experience with them).

-German
tanks are equipped with guns that have superior accuracy and are generally
underpowered. Armor is usually middle of the road. This tree is the stout
workhorse style of tank.

-Russian
tanks are generally speaking the most powerful in this game. Critics sometimes
speculate that because the game is of Russian origin that this is a bias the
developers have, nonetheless pound for pound and tier for tier these tanks are
the toughest in the game. The Russian tanks however lack accuracy but make up
for this deficiency through speed and agility and high penetrating main guns.

Obviously
these are some generalizations and if you are an experienced player right now I
know you citing exceptions to everything on the list. Again these are just some
of my observations of the tech trees as a whole and the strengths and
weaknesses designed by the developers.

I
look forward to sharing more tips and tricks with all of you through the
Keyboard Required blog.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I received an interesting e-mail from BioWare giving me and others the chance to become a founding member of Star Wars: The Old Republic. I have to admit this is a smart move by BioWare to keep their player base around just a little longer if they were thinking of leaving. Also it shows they have the ability to learn from other games as players will like the idea of being able to show they were there from the start.

All you have to do to receive the new in game title and medal is to first have purchased the game and secondly pay for an extension on your subscription, either by a subscription plan or by using a game card. Easy enough and five years from now players won't have to tell people they were there in the beginning, but could show them the proof.

Here is the link to the page with all the information on it or read it below.

As a 'thank you' to everyone who helped make Star Wars™: The
Old Republic™ one of the most successful MMO launches in history, we are
rewarding early members of The Old Republic with a unique Founder's
Medal and "Founder" Title!

Complete one of the following transactions by March 19th, 2012 (12:01AM EST; Pacific: March 18th, 9:01PM PST; European: 4:01AM GMT, 5:01AM CET):

Billed at least once for an active Star Wars: The Old Republic subscription

Redeemed a Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Time Code

Once you become eligible for the title and have surpassed
your 30 days of game time included with your official Game Product
Registration Code, you will be notified by email.

Check your in-game mail for a message from "Star Wars: The Old Republic". Your Founder's Medal will be attached to this message.

Place your Founder's Medal in your Inventory and
right-click the medal to unlock your "Founder" title. (TIP: You can
choose to show the Founder's title or any other title you've earned
in-game by opening your character sheet and selecting a title from the
character name drop down. Once applied, the title will show next to your
character name on your nameplate.)

This title is permanently bound to your account and will carry over to any character you make in the future.

(NOTE: It may take up to 7 days for the "Founder" title to be applied).

Friday, January 13, 2012

The game has been out less than a month and already BioWare has released a new content patch. "Kaon under siege" appears to involve responding to a planet in distress only to discover it overrun with zombie like creatures. You can check out the video below or read the article here.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Commanders!The Battle of Monte Cassino was a costly series of four battles, which first began on the 17th of
January of 1944. In order to break through the Winter Line and seize
Rome, the Allied Forces attempted to reach a little town in the Cassino
mountain, from which they would gain a vantage point and a strong
defensive position against Germans and Italians.

Starting on January 12, 2012 at 4:30AM PST and ending January
17, 2012 at 4:00AM PST, the below discounts and bonuses will be active
in our first special of 2012.

3x experience for the first victory each day on all of your tanks

60% discount on premium consumables

20% bonus on gold-to-credits conversion (currently 400 per 1, will be 480 per 1 during special)

Be sure to take advantage of this special before January 17, 2012.
Stay tuned, we'll have further details on the next special soon!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Since patch 7.0 was released the frequency and number of SPG's one will see in a match has decreased dramatically. Some will champion this development as SPG's are often cited as the least favorite thing to face in the game. Others, namely those with SPG's, are less than enthusiastic about the change. So what has caused these once common and deadly opponent to fade from our target reticules? Two separate game changes in 7.0, the Credit Earning potential of SPG's and Tracers.

Credit Earning Nerf

With the release of patch 7.0 the amount of credits self Propelled Guns could generate per match was greatly reduced by in some cases 30 percent. Added to this is the fact that high tier SPG ammo costs went up. In essence the ability to operate a SPG without losing credits has greatly diminished to the point where losing credits per match is more common. This is only compounded by the other major change in 7.0 which has greatly undermined an SPG"s greatest weapon, hiding.

Counter Battery

IF you operate a SPGand die early in a match you are almost guaranteed to have a negative credit outcome. Early deaths are a lot more common now because of the return of tracer lines coming from SPG's shots. Counter Battery is the process of using the overhead view of an SPG to watch for and track enemy SPG rounds as they leave.

Although the SPG itself remains hidden from view, a solid line will be shown from its general vicinity. Enemy SPG's only have to wait for a tell tale shot to be fired before returning a shot of their own. Often resulting in a kill since SPG's are incapable of sustaining multiple hits.Using the Counter Battery method is made even easier on some maps as the terrain makes the number of hiding spots available sparse, so watching potential hiding spaces decreases.

These two changes have greatly decreased the desirability of playing an SPG in game and as you would expect the number of SPG's in matches has reduced dramatically. Before 7.0 is was not uncommon to see as much as 10 SPG's out of 30 total tanks. Now to find more than 4 in a match is almost unheard of. Whether or not this is a bad thing is based on ones own perception of the situation, but the results are easy enough to see.

Personally I do not like the changes as an effective way of lessening
the number of SPG's, but I am the kind of player who will roll with the
punches and make do. But what do you guys think? Do you like the changes made and has it affected the amount of time you play SPG's. Was this a good way to decrease the number of SPG's in a match?

Monday, January 9, 2012

Hello all you button mashing keyboard clicking yahoos. Now that you have spent all your hard earned cash on newer games for you and your's during the holiday, I decided to see what i could find in the way of retro free games. wouldn't you know i hit the treasure trove! If you are anything like me (minus the cob webs) you like the old classics. The hard part is finding the disposal cash or easy location with witch to find said titles.

well i my digital kix eating friends, i have found just that. Its a lovely flash site called nintendo8. here is the link for your ease to use. i found hundreds of classic Nintendo games. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

To mark the release of patch 7.1 World of Tanks is giving everyone a free French tank, theTetrarch Mk VII. Visit this page to redeem your code. here is the story:

Commanders!

With the recent release of version 7.1 all players get a special
gift. The unique premium tank, lend-lease version of the Light Mk VII,
Tetrarch including a free garage slot is ready to join your tank company
in garage!

The other day, myself and a fellow tanking friend wanted to know just how much money a gold piece would cost in real dollars for World of Tanks. Once we figured that out we decided to figure out how much everything else would cost. Not wanting to be greedy I have decided to share our findings with you my readers.The following numbers are all in Dollars and are based on the present cost for gold purchases in game.

First lets look at the cost for gold purchases taken from the World of Tanks website. I will use the 1-5 numbering system in this post to signify which gold purchase I am using:

With that base cost per gold figured out we can determine what some of the game purchases will cost you to obtain them.

For experience the conversion rate is 25 Xp for 1 gold.

As an example let's say that you wanted to convert 50,000 free XP which would take 2000 gold, each purchase plan would cost you:

1. $7.80
2. $8.20
3. $9.20
4. $9.80
5. $11.20

If you wanted to unlock a tier 10 IS-7 tank, not including any of the other required components the tank alone takes 178,445 XP to unlock. If you had enough free XP to unlock this last stage the cost to do so would be 7,137 gold. The real dollar cost of doing this is:

1. $27.84
2. $29.26
3. $32.83
4. $34.97
5. $39.96

For credit conversion the rate is 400 credits for 1 gold.

If we stick with the 2000 gold rate that would net you 800,000 credits and would cost you the same as the above figures for XP conversion.

That same IS-7 tank costs 6,100,000 credits to buy. To have enough credits to buy the tank would cost you 15,250 gold. Money wise that type of investment would run you:

1. $59.47
2. $62.52
3. $70.15
4. $74.72
5. $85.40

To unlock the tank without any other in game help and just using purchased gold the IS-7 tank would run you a hefty:

1. $87.31
2. $91.78
3. $102.98
4. $109.69
5. $125.36

That is a lot of money for a digital tank. I know players that have used Free XP and converted credits to buy a Tier 10 tank in game and it shows just how much money someone can spend to accomplish this.

Premium Tanks are also a hot purchase in game and for an example we will use the three most popular tanks to figure out how much they cost.

The German heavy tank Lowe is a tier 8 tank and is different than others in its group since its price was raised to 12,500 gold. Real dollar costs to buy this tank are as follows:

1. $48.75
2. $51.25
3. $57.50
4. $61.25
5. $70.00

To save some money you could buy only the amount of gold needed by purchasing two different gold plans. Since you need 12,500 gold, the two plans that make the most sense would be #2 12,000 gold for $49.95 and #5 1,250 gold for $6.95. Or you could purchase 2 #3 plans for 6,500 gold at 29.95 each.

The Lowe would then cost you $56.90 for plans #2 and #5 with 750 gold left over or $59.90 for plan #3 with 500 gold left over.

If you bundled plans #3 and #5 togerther it would run you $36.90 with 250 Gold left over.You can use the same rates to figure out other costs like Premium membership, gold ammo, premium components and other premium tanks.

Well if you ever wanted to know how much stuff costs in game I hope this has helped some.

Fast on the heals of patch 7.0, patch 7.1 has already been released. The biggest addition in this patch is the release of the French tank tree. You can read the Full patch Notes and story HERE or read below.

Commanders!

The update 7.1 has been released successfully for the North American game server.

All premium accounts active at the start of the maintenance
period have had their accounts compensated with an additional day
starting at 12:00 am PST January 5th (8:00 UTC January 5th).

Monday, January 2, 2012

While leveling up on Tython I noticed the same questions being asked very often. Hopefully these 5 simple tips will help you in the beginnings of your adventure.

1. Discover and use your Travel Points.

If you are a veteran of MMORPG games then these are very familiar to you. Along the way you will find Travel paths that allows you to travel between locations. Make sure to click on each one even if you don't plan on using them at that moment as they will come in handy later.

2. Click on every bind point.

Unlike other games that only allow you to save one location as a bind point, SWTOR lets you use all of them. Make sure to click on each one you come across so that when you use your quick travel icon you can choose any location you may need.

3. Mission locations may be on another map

Missions (Quests) are displayed on your map to help you find the location you need to go to to complete them. However some are on adjoining maps and are not immediately visible. Doors or portals to other maps will have a list of quests available on the next map.

4. You can heal your companion character by healing yourself.

To replenish the health of your companion simply enter your healing state for you self and your companion will heal as well.

5. Always log off in a Rest Zone

Make sure when you are done playing to have your character inside a rest zone. While there he will gain rested experience which allows you to gain more XP when leveling. Do this enough and it will greatly increase your leveling rate.

Bonus Tips

Ok so I have one more so just consider this as bonus help. This is also the most asked question on Tython so I thought I would include it.

6. Getting your light saber is not associated with level.

You will receive your light saber once you have completed the mission chain that grants it, not at level 10. So no worries it will come to you soon enough.